Music can be great for kids.

In addition to the enjoyment we as adults get from the musical arts, it can be an amazing tool for kids as well. There have been numerous studies connecting a child’s linguistic and mathematical skills and development with learning how to read music and play an instrument.

Oh course, with the youngest of children you can’t just drive right into the more technical elements. So, how can we get kids interested? One way is to help them to make their own “instruments” to play.

Here are three simple examples that can be made in literally a few minutes with basic household items.

Tambourine

Take a moderately thick paper plate and fold it in half. Get some beans from your pantry (or if you’re not a bean person grab a few small rocks from outside) and put them inside the folded plate. Close them in by stapling the place together and there you go.

Drum

Save that old coffee can rather than tossing it in the trash. Take an old piece of fabric, perhaps something like a worn out t-shirt or towel, and stretch it out over the opening of the coffee can. You can hold it in place it a rubber band. Kids can use either their hands or virtually any appropriate object around the house to strike the drum.

Guitar

Don’t throw away that old tissue box. Instead, take a rectangular tissue box and remove the plastic from around the opening. Get yourself the roll from some toilet paper or paper towels. Cut a hole in one of the short ends of the tissue box big enough to insert the roll. Seal the outside where you inserted the roll with heavy duty tape like duct or masking tape. Put several rubber bands around the box so the go over the open hoe in the center. There you go, instant mini guitar.

After two weeks of voting surprises, with a really big one in Erika last week, perhaps we’ll see a correction in the voting this week if you will.

I originally missed Colton’s performance this week but went back and checked it out later. All in all, the contestants all did pretty well. But as usual, a few front runners continue to emerge while the rest of the pack if fading behind.

Here’s how I rate the performances:

1. Jessica – Interesting twist on the original song. Slow start but well done. Her vocals where truly haunting.

2.Colton – Such a heartfelt performance. Once again he showed that he is a force to be reckoned with.

3. Phillip – Awesome song selection. So cool and catchy. Great job.

4. Elise – Great song choice. She’s one awesome rock chick. Very cool.

5. Hollie – She crushes the high notes every time. Very good as usual.

6. Heejun – Very deep for him. Great start but good overall.

7. Skylar – Fun and energetic, decent but not great by any means.

8. Joshua – Kind of plain. OK at first but once he hit the middle through the end it really fell apart.

9. DeAndre – Way too much falsetto. His vocals where just all over the place.

Based on this week alone, the Bottom 3 “should” be Skylar, Joshua and DeAndre with DeAndre going home. But we have two consider two things. 1. The voters have been highly unpredictable so far. 2. At some point, votes should start to be based on a singer’s entire body of work rather than just a single show. If that happens the Bottom 3 should be the same as above with the exception of Heenjun replacing Skylar.

It happens to all of us.

Whether you are a novice writer and simply write for pleasure or you are an experienced professional earning his or her living with the art of writing, we are all equals when it comes to writer’s block. This phenomenon does not discriminate.

So, when a case settles upon us, what are we supposed to do about it? How should we handle it?

Think in terms of sports.

Perhaps you’re and athlete or sports fan and maybe you’re not. It doesn’t really matter. The point it, the following analogy might just be helpful.

Let’s take the game of baseball for example. When a batter seems to be struggling at the plate, unable to make contact or hit anything that will get him on base, what does he do? He keeps stepping up to the plate. Perhaps he’ll change some element of his swing or stance but the important thing is that he keeps taking his turn at bat.

That’s essentially what writers have to do. We just have to keep writing. Sure, for a while your work might seem like useless dribble but that’s OK. Eventually, like the baseball player, you’ll come out of your slump.

And oddly enough, I find that a lot of the most creative and skillful writing comes just when you work your way out of a bad case of writer’s block.

Music can be very touching

I would venture to say that over the course of everyone’s lifetime, there are some songs that come along that really touch us in one way or another. Perhaps it’s by instilling within us a sense of inspiration. Or maybe it’s a collection of lyrics that cheer us up when we are down. And still in other cases, it might be a musical work that brings tears to our eyes. Whatever the case may be, we all have some songs that have touched us deeply. Here are a few of mine.